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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by 
J. GAYLORD WELLS, 
in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of Connecticut. 






Printed by 

J. GAYLORD WELLS, 
1841-2 Main st, Hartford. 









TO THE 


REV. JOHN PIERPONT, 

OF BOSTON, 

EMINENT AS A POET, PIIILANTHQPIST AND DIVINE, 

THIS POEM 

IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 

BY 

THE AUTHOR. 


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Tm mm otee 






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Who thus o’er the foaming flood doth glide ? 

No sail propels his course; 

He heeds not the winds with their sway of pride— 

He asks no boon of the haughty tide, 

But mocks at the breakers hoarse! 

Sigournet. 


I. 

Our fathers—our fathers — they sleep ’neath the 
mold; 

A ban to the tongue that would libel the dead ! 
They were faithful and true — they were valiant 
and bold — 

For their kindred and country they battled and bled. 
Like us, when the fiat was spoken above, 

They sprang into being from darkness and dust; 
As warm in their friendships—as constant in love— 
They lived as we live, and they died as we must! 







6 


T II E IRON STE E D . 


II. 

Ever ready to peril their lives for the Right, 

They constructed their laws on the Puritan plan; 
And, fervent and fearless, they sought with their 
might 

The glory of God and the welfare of man. 
Despising the greatness of titles and birth, 

In the steps of their fathers they fearlessly trod ; 
They turned from the fictions and follies of earth, 
And sought for the wisdom that cometh from God. 


III. 

The secrets of Science, which He had concealed, 

’T were a sin in their view to attempt to explore ; 

Whatever the Bible and Nature revealed, 

They received with thanksgiving, and sought for 
no more! 

“ Never pick at the lock where no key has been 
given,” 

Was a maxim they cherished from childhood to 
age; 

And they reverenced its truth as the mandate of 
Heaven, 

And scorned the researches of skeptic and sage ! 











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tiie iron S r E E 1) . 


7 


IV. 

They remembered the precept. “ Six days shalt thou 
labor,” 

And obeyed its requirements with reverence and 
awe; 

Each sought with delight for the good of his neighbor, 

And was bold in defence of Religion and Law. 

On each Sabbath-day morning, the rustic civilian 

Accoutred and curried “ old dobin” with care ; 

Himself on the saddle, his wife on the pillion, 

They hurried away to the mansion of prayer. 

V. 

As they galloped along, said the dame to her lord : 

“What a mighty improvement! —it seems like a 
dream ! — 

Since our dear wedding-day when, with happy 
accord, 

We were drawn to the church by a lazy ox-team ! 

Up the hills — down the dales — with the swiftness 
of wind — 

How gallant and gaily together we go ! 

See, see ! how we leave all the neighbors behind ; 

Our fathers and mothers — they never went so !” 


✓ 


8 


THE IRON STEED. 


VI. 

In the night of tradition — as Homer hath sung — 
The Greeks had long battled their foemen in vain ; 
O’er the flower of their armies the knell had been 
rung, 

Nor the thunders of conflict could rouse them 
again 1 

Nor helmet nor armor could ward off the stroke, 
When Hector and Priam sent homeward the blow ; 
So they built them a war-horse of cedar and oak, 
And made him their “ consul ” to treat with the 
foe ! 


VII. 

Through the realm of the Trojans destruction was 
stayed, 

And festival mirth filled their joyful abodes ; 

The wooden-horse entered, and Troy was betrayed, 

And the heroes of Greece were enrolled with her 

\ 

gods! 

Ha ! had they but known of the steed of our times, 
So mighty in conquest as never to yield, 

They had laughed at Deceit, as the vilest of crimes, 
And reaped their renown upon Victory’s field ! 





THE IRON STEED. 


9 


VIII. 

Ay, there was a day when the “dumb ass” of 
Baalam 

Out spake to the prophet in language of men ! — 
And there was a time when the witches of Salem 
Bestrided their broom-sticks and rode o’er the fen! 
And perchance in the dim distant future may rise 
Some mighty translator of mystical lore, 

Who will harness his steeds for exploring the skies, 
And drive them where steeds ne’er were driven 
before ! 


IX. 


’T was a glorious union when Nature and Science, 

By the goddess of Art, to the altar were led ! — 
The Iron Steed sprang from the hallowed alli¬ 
ance, 

And forth on his errand of glory he sped. 

All hail! to the Iron Steed, now and forever! •;’/ ; 

On land or on ocean the truest and best; 

He will browse on the forest, and drink from the 
river, 

And work night and day without stopping to 
rest! 


O'-vv- 


c 


GA' 


v / t. v 


/ 



10 


THE IRON STEED. 


X. 

Who so faithful and fearlesss in battle as he ! 

Ilis harness is ringing — he pants for the fight! 

W oe, woe, to the warrior, on shore or on sea, 

When th* invincible war-horse goes forth in his 
might! 

Unblenching, and true to his terrible trust, 

He tramples alike on the living and slain ! 

He grindeth the face of the foe in the dust, 

And the dying man pleadelh for mercy in vain ! 

XI. 

With the breathings of flame, and the roar of the 
thunder, 

He is winding his way o*er prairie and mountain ; 
The gaunt wolf looks out from his covert with 
wonder, 

And the reel man awakes from his dream by the 
fountain ! 

The steed of the desert, which ever before 

Unrivalled had roamed o’er his wilderness-track, 
Sees his glory eclipsed, —he shall lord it no more, 
For the fearful invader hath beckoned him back ! 



il 




THE IRON STEED 


XII. 

Ever on — ever on —like the snn in its couise 
O’er the sands of the line, and the snows of the 

pole, 

Unwasted, unwearied, the huge iron Iloise 

Speedeth on, as the racer speeds on to his goal! 
His footstep is heard on the Russian domains, 

By the lords of the Kremlin, the serfs of the 

Czar ; 

How swiftly he sweeps o’er the ice-covered plains, 
Where the rein-deer once trode his lone jouiney 
afar! 


XIII. 

What a clatter of hoofs! -what a rattling ana 
din ! — 

What a whirling of chariot-wheels follow his 
track ! 

He reaches the sea, and he plunges in, 

And receding shores echo his winnowing? hack. 
And away o’er the waters exulting he speeds, 

With his rivited lungs and his sinews of steel; 

In swiftness outstripping the fleetest of steeds, ^ 
And tossing the foam in the wake of his keel 1 


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V « 


THE IRON STEED. 

XIV. 

The islanders hailed his approach from afar, 

As the mightiest monster they ever set eyes on ; 
5 T was a presage of wrath, or an omen of war, 

And they watched it, and prayed, till it met the 
horizon. 

Still nearer, still brighter, the lurid light shines ! 
There’s a sound on tile air, and a wake on the 
wave ! — 

Old Neptune, affrighted, his sceptre resigns, 

And dives down the deep to his nethermost cave. 

XV. 

What a shudder of gloom — what a fearful commo¬ 
tion — 

O’ertakes the poor hind in his birchen canoe, 
When the dimness of night settles down on the 
ocean, 

And the terrible torch blazes red on his view ! 

He \tratches the light, as he sees it advancing, — 

O 7 o 7 

lie lists, and a hoarse breathing breaks on his ear ; 
And a sound as of armies of war-horses prancing, 
And a plunging and roar, marked the monster’s 
career ! 


THE IRON STEBD. 


13 


XVI. 

The Mermaids were singing a dirge o’er the wreck 
Of a gaily-rigged schooner, whose crew were all 
drowed ; 

But they threw down their lyres, and deserted the 
deck, 

As they heard in the distance the horrible sound. 

The sea-serpent paused, on his cruise to Nahant, 

As he heard the huge fellow away in his rear; 

With a shake of his head, and his eyes all aslant, 

He whispered, “What doeth the land-lubber 
here !” 

XVII. 

The weather-worn tar, who had buffetted long 
The wrath of the seas, and the frowns of the 
world, 

Yet ever had welcomed them all with a song, 

And drank to his love when the canvass was 
furled, — 

Even he looked perplexed, and grew pale in his 
turn, 

As he took down his glass for a closer inspection, 

And eyed the “strange craft” from its stem to its 
stern, 

His judgment vibrating from fear to reflection. 


14 


THE IRON STEED. 


XVIII. 

He had danced on the deep to the music of storms, 
And laughed till the darkness and tempest vveic 

o’er; 

He had looked upon Death in its feartullcst forms, 
But he never had met such a monster before. 

At the stranger’s approach his ambition was stirre 1, 
And he sang, as the shrouds to the zephyrs weie 


cast, 

*'■ Bear away! bear away! spread ^ ie sa ^ s to lne 
gales, 

The “ True Yankee” sailer was never yet past! 


XIX. 

There are fancies and facts which the muse may 
not mention, 

All recorded and vouched for again and again, 

How the tribes of the deep met in solemn conven¬ 
tion, 

And humbly implored him to leave their domain. 

And tradition yet tells of the hosts that assembled, 

In order of battle, from regions afar; 

And the water-nymphs wept, and the ocean-gods 
trembled, 

As the Triton-trumps sounded the summons to 
war! 


f* 


THE IRON STEED 


15 


XX. 

Make way for the Iron Steed ! — hither he comes, 
With the freight of all kingdoms and climes 
richly laden ; 

He beareth the exiled away from their homes — 

He bringeth the lost lover back to his maiden ! 

He corneth —he goeth ! How widely apart 
We are torn, ere the tears of departure are dry ! 
The herald of gladness to many a heart — 

How many will hail his approach with a sigh ! 

XXI. 

Unscathed by the tempest, unharmed by the flood, 
He must speed on his way till his mission shall 

cease; 

In Battle, the fiercest avenger of blood, 

Yet swiftest to carry the message of Peace ! 

He must haste — he must haste — to the nations 
benighted, 

And scatter the darkness that broods in their 
skies, 

Till the lamps of the Cross on their altars are 

/ 

lighted, 

And Death, the pale steed of the battle-field 
dies ! 


16 


V 


THE IRON STEED 

XXII. 

The Chains of Attraction have hitherto bound 
him, —• 

How glorious his flight, from his trammels set 
free ! 

Though a giant when viewed by the mites that sur¬ 
round him, 

He’s an infant to what he hereafter may be ! 

He must grope on his way mid these perishing 
’ things, 

C* 7 w 

And tread with rude step o’er his kindred that 

\ 

were, 

Till the angel of Science shall give to him wings, 
And mark out his path through the regions of air! 


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